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Should Halo 3 Anniversary have been made, possibly as an Xbox One launch title?

Madness

Member
We are now closing in on the 10 year anniversary of Halo 3. Halo CE and Halo 2 both goth remastered games for their 10 year anniversaries. CE got a map pack that was incorporated as DLC into Reach. Halo 2 Anniversary was announced as part of the ill-fated Master Chief Collection and while there were overall issues,the improved campaign visual fidelity, better frame rate and textures coupled with industry leading Blur cinematics still meant it was a great addition. On the multiplayer front, you had 6 maps of H2 remastered using a mix of H2/H3 style gameplay using the H4 engine.

For Halo 3, so far all that has been announced is a possible forge playlist for Halo 5. Our beloved forgers are doing great (shoutout to Nokyard), and they are getting great work alongside 343.

But Halo 3 was such a pivotal game. It shattered sales records, pre-orders, midnight launch lineups, it was the end of the Bungie led Master Chief trilogy and the fight was finished. Until Modern Warfare 2 came out, it was actually ahead of CoD4:MW for more weeks than not for almost all of 2007 to 2009 being the most played game on XBL.

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Even month after release was still over 1 million players concurrent online. The ad campaigns were brilliant with the CGI starry night, the small handcrafted diorama of the Beli3ve ads etc. And I was thinking of Xbox One X. It launches soon. It has no killer apps in my opinion beyond Forza as a first party IP. Crackdown 3 is delayed. This fall, we will see Destiny 2, Battlefront 2, CoD: WWII and nothing really for Halo. The ten year anniversary for perhaps the most successful Halo game. It would have been a good game to showcase Xbox One X. Imagine if on the X, the Halo 3 campaign not only got Blur cinematics, but it ran at 4K/60fps native. Instant switching has been said to be tough and was really tough for H2A to get instant, and sure some sacrifices would have been needed for current launch or Xbox One S owners. But Halo 3 Anniversary as a launch title, with a remastered campaign, a multiplayer where they could have chosen 8 or 10 of the most popular Halo 3 maps, based it off the H5 engine removing things that .ay not have functioned as good would have gotten me to buy an Xbox One X much more than I want one now. Anyone else feel the same? Playing a prettied up AC: Origins doesn't really do it for me. And Halo 5 forge playlist of H3 maps just screams underwhelming to me. Sure I can play H3 on my Xbox 360, play it on Xbox One through MCC, but Halo 3 deserved better, especially its campaign no? Packed in with Xbox One X as a launch title, I can easily the X selling like hotcakes more.
 

etta

my hard graphic balls
Yes, but they won’t.
And Microsoft wishes it had such a phenomenon-type event again. But they stopped giving a shit.
 
Right now you can play Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and not that many people still do that. I don't think redoing the graphics of Halo 3 would give it staying power for more than a couple of months. People moved on because of the gameplay other shooters offered.
 

Duxxy3

Member
I was so positive that there would be a Halo 3 anniversary game in the time for Scorpio. But alas. That didn't happen. Would have been a good way to fill up that gaping hole in their fall lineup.
 

Ramirez

Member
The game aged so poorly, my most played Halo by a mile, but I doubt an anniversary edition would do much of anything.

Halo 5 is simply a better playing game, just focus on 6.
 

xviper

Member
i want it, i really do, but we already played it 3 years ago with MCC, so it's pointless to release it again

it's actually a good thing that there is no Halo this year, i don't need another FPS, i already have Overwatch( doubt i will stop even when PS5 comes out) and soon we will get Destiny 2

but next year better have a Halo game, whether it's Halo 6 or a remake of Halo 3, or something else
 

Madness

Member
The game aged so poorly, my most played Halo by a mile, but I doubt an anniversary edition would do much of anything.

Halo 5 is simply a better playing game, just focus on 6.

That is why I feel the MP could have been like 8 or 10 of the best maps built around the H5 engine like H2A was made using H4.

Look how fun the lego blocks version of The Pit is in H5. Nokyard is making a killer Avalanche for BTB in H5. But imagine a 4k/60 or 1800p/60fps version for Xbox One X. The remastered campaign with all new lighting and textures and assets and blur cinematics.

343 can still focus on 6. Contract Saber Interactive again, bring Certain Affinity as well, Bluepoint did a solod job with TitanFall can hire them. This is Halo. If MS can't open tbe purse strings for the franchise that made Xbox, then they can just see the franchise wither away. Who knows when H6 comes, will the campaign top H3? Unlikely. This fall though, they want us to shell out $500+ and instead play a new Destiny, CoD, Battlefront etc.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Nah. There isn't much that needs changing looking at how it looks on the MCC.
Unlike the Halo 1 and Halo 2 anniversary editions. They'd need to straight up remake Halo 3. No switching back and forth from the original style. It'd end up just being a new game altogether.
Also i'd argue despite the huge impact it had on 360 it doesn't hold as much weight as the other two titles.
 
Right now you can play Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and not that many people still do that. I don't think redoing the graphics of Halo 3 would give it staying power for more than a couple of months. People moved on because of the gameplay other shooters offered.

No.

It's still my go to Halo and the one that you hear more people talk about more than any other no matter what Halo you are playing. It is still the most fun, and the next Halo needs to be closer to it than 5 without a doubt.
 

Madness

Member
Nah. There isn't much that needs changing looking at how it looks on the MCC.
Unlike the Halo 1 and Halo 2 anniversary editions. They'd need to straight up remake Halo 3. No switching back and forth from the original style. It'd end up just being a new game altogether.
Also i'd argue despite the huge impact it had on 360 it doesn't hold as much weight as the other two titles.

They can do a delayed switchback. The power of Xbox One X would mean probabably a bigger jump in visuals than what we saw with H2 and H2A.

My question is, with little to no killer apps, delayed games like Crackdown 3, games like Scalebound cancelled, was it wise to not take advantage of the Halo 3 10 year anniversary. Mario Kart on the Switch barely changed anything. And it is selling like hotcakes and giving Switch owners something to play. Instead Xbox One X owners will buy other shooters while Halo keeps going down from 'has-been' to 'never-was' status.
 

Calm Killer

In all media, only true fans who consume every book, film, game, or pog collection deserve to know what's going on.
Halo 3 anniversary with next gen graphic will make people hate Halo 5 and its direction.

Not at all. Halo 5 is the best MP since Halo 2. Halo 3 was far from perfect.
 
Halo 3 anniversary with next gen graphic will make people hate Halo 5 and its direction.

Personally I think the opposite would be more likely to happen. Halo 3 is so slow, with such a narrow fov, and poor weapon balancing. In many ways it doesn't hold up as well as Halo 5.
 

Wedzi

Banned
Halo 3 was peak Xbox for a lot of people. To not try and recapture that magic is beyond words, especially when you're launching a new console.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Its dead jim. the glory days of halo will never reappear no matter how much you reminisce, same with gears.

and ms clearly sees the hype cycle of launch releases and next gen machines in general as an outdated concept
 
Personally I think this would be the case only with the campaign, and the opposite would in fact be true for Multiplayer. Halo 3 is so slow, with such a narrow fov, and poor weapon balancing. In many ways it doesn't hold up as well as Halo 5.

It is halo cause it actually has the style of play that halo is, it's slow because you know where to nade and shoot/watch for people. It isn't broken cause the other side knows the same thing and when they are in trouble for spawn traps etc Being slow is not bad, it's not the same style but it is what Halo is to its core. You play that, aspect of it and with the map design you aren't exactly going to be having any issues getting into view of seeing others to shoot at anyways.

Halo 5 is all that is not halo for the most part.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
They can do a delayed switchback. The power of Xbox One X would mean probabably a bigger jump in visuals than what we saw with H2 and H2A.

My question is, with little to no killer apps, delayed games like Crackdown 3, games like Scalebound cancelled, was it wise to not take advantage of the Halo 3 10 year anniversary. Mario Kart on the Switch barely changed anything. And it is selling like hotcakes and giving Switch owners something to play. Instead Xbox One X owners will buy other shooters while Halo keeps going down from 'has-been' to 'never-was' status.

Yeah I should've re-worded my post a bit. Since I talked more about it not happening. With the second part i'd agree. Halo 3 something would be better than the nothing and weak first party holiday they have atm.
 

Welfare

Member
Halo CEA was created to celebrate 10 years of the franchise and Halo 2 was the only non HD release at that point. Can't really do H3A without completely remaking the game which is honestly a waste of resources as MCC already provides Halo 3 at its best possible HD look. IMO, 343 should have scheduled a massive Halo 5 update for Halo 3's 10th anniversary as that would be much more beneficial to the player pop than having 3 FPS titles (Halo 5, MCC, and H3A).

Hopefully that Xbox One X update for Halo 5 contains some new content but I'm completely fine and actually glad we didn't see H3A.
 

RdN

Member
I totally think so.

Halo 3 Anniversary would be the perfect game to launch alongside the Xbox One X.
 
Yes, a huge disappointment for me that it wasn't. Should have been a showcase graphically with re-done and beefier audio for the weapons, and, of course, Blur cutscenes.

The fact it wasn't really says something about where the franchise is at (even though I still love it) for Microsoft and 343i.
 

Akai__

Member
Instead you will get a couple H3 Forge Maps in Halo 5, which nobody will care about. Especially with the terrible hitscan weapons in Halo 5 that will break every map.

Not at all. Halo 5 is the best MP since Halo 2. Halo 3 was far from perfect.

Sure man. That's why the game is doing so amazingly well, when it comes to population. That's also why several Pro Players are debating about changing to CoD, instead of having to put up an other year with 343i and ESL.

Literally only a couple people on NeoGAF and other Forums are saying this, while everyone else moved on.
 

Scoops

Banned
There were too many Halo games on 360 and the series became fatigued, so I'm not sure it would've mattered.
 

Madness

Member
No. 343i should work on perfecting and nailing halo 6s single player.

343i barely even worked on Halo CEA or MCC/H2A. They would obviously outsource as they are deep in Halo 6 development. Microsoft can hire Creative Assembly for Halo Wars 2, hire Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity for Halo CEA and H2A but cannot do same for H3A? Why not hire Bluepoint. It isn't a zero sum game.

No. Halo 3 on MCC and xb360 are completely playable and awesome. No need for an upgrade.

More so the remaster. 4K resolution, 60fps, the power of Xbox One X to make it look amazing. Blur cinematics and perhaps a refreshed multiplayer based off of H5 engine. Instead there is nothing. Look at Mario Kart sales on Switch. Those people could keep playing Wii U mario kart no?
 

-SG

Member
Just give it to me on PC already. Actually, I guess I could probably just go buy a 360 for the price of a new game these days.
 

Ascenion

Member
Believe is probably still the best video game ad, and the best marketing campaign. I drank all that Kool-aid.
 

Ramirez

Member
Sure man. That's why the game is doing so amazingly well, when it comes to population. That's also why several Pro Players are debating about changing to CoD, instead of having to put up an other year with 343i and ESL.

Literally only a couple people on NeoGAF and other Forums are saying this, while everyone else moved on.

Eh, I love the game, but I just never play my Xbox anymore. Halo is just a niche game now, time to accept it. Going back to Halo 2-3 style isn't going to change it.
 
Can I derail this thread and just say how as a joke me and my friends went on MCC to laugh about how it's still broken and it actually worked and has kept working great for us the past couple weeks? I highly suggest everyone give it a try because it's been 2 weeks and I still don't believe it and won't be shocked if it's been a fluke. Iam talking big team battle with a party of 5 or 6 finding matches faster than overwatch
 
Halo 2 may have had slightly better design with levels/game modes/online function, but the total sandbox of Halo 3 on Xbox Live will probably never be topped.

Can I derail this thread and just say how as a joke me and my friends went on MCC to laugh about how it's still broken and it actually worked and has kept working great for us the past couple weeks? I highly suggest everyone give it a try because it's been 2 weeks and I still don't believe it and won't be shocked if it's been a fluke. Iam talking big team battle with a party of 5 or 6 finding matches faster than overwatch

I wish I still had xbl or the money to resub :/
 

Kibbles

Member
Can I derail this thread and just say how as a joke me and my friends went on MCC to laugh about how it's still broken and it actually worked and has kept working great for us the past couple weeks? I highly suggest everyone give it a try because it's been 2 weeks and I still don't believe it and won't be shocked if it's been a fluke. Iam talking big team battle with a party of 5 or 6 finding matches faster than overwatch

Wish it was getting a 4k upgrade, would love to go back and play it all in 4k on the 1X.
 
Halo 2 may have had slightly better design with levels/game modes/online function, but the total sandbox of Halo 3 on Xbox Live will probably never be topped.



I wish I still had xbl or the money to resub :/

I wish you did too because it's been so much fun usually people announce it works on gaf and it's lies but I mean I feel confident enough to say they should make some form of announcement that it works now lol

Edit: to be fair audio issues are still present but gameplay and connections seem on point
 
Halo 3 is still my favorite game the series. The later entries in the series do a terrible job in both vehicle combat and map design. It deserves a graphical update, but 343 is more concerned about esports and microtransactions.
 

XxCGSxX

Member
I miss the shit out of Halo 3. This and in some parts Halo Reach were the last multiplayer Halo games I enjoyed. Slightly off topic but I'm sorry, I hated Halo 4 mp and tried to force myself to like Halo 5 mp but I couldn't, it's just not the Halo I once enjoyed and all of my friends felt the same. On topic, yes I would be sooooo hyped if Halo 3 anniversary would've come out. It deserves to be made some day.
 
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